


In the Beginning

by tempeck16



Series: Not Alone [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Humor, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Pre-Slash, Series, Team Formation, Tony is the youngest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 14:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/651267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempeck16/pseuds/tempeck16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Beginning Steve was kind of a dick, well so was Tony, but Steve definitely started it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This will be the first in the line of Stories about the Not Alone Series. There is a piece in between In the Beginning and Never Again so it really doesn't make sense when reading them in sequence. I will be uploading that 'in between' part soon. Thank you for reading. :

The beginning was kinda rough.

Tony didn’t know if he could make it work.

In fact, in the beginning Steve Rogers was kind of a dick. Well then again, so was Tony, but Steve’s dick-i-ness is where it all started. 

No wait, that’s not where this started…, 

This all started with a list. 

That’s where this story started: 

In life, Tony’s mind was primarily comprised of lists; tons and tons of lists. Ever since Tony was a little kid, he always put things into categorical lists in order to make sense of the world. When his dad was mad at him, which was far too often, Tony would make a list in his mind of what he had done wrong and why it disappointed his parents. 

When Tony got a little older he would put together mental lists of all the times that he could make something out of nothing and create things that other people his age, and decades older, couldn’t even comprehend making. 

It’s not like Tony was OCD or anything, you should see his work space; it’s like hurricane’s A-D in there. And it’s not that being OCD was a bad thing. Plenty of people that Tony knew are OCD. In his eyes Pepper’s got to be OCD or she could never have dealt with Tony for so long without being crushed under the weight his pure awesomeness. 

…Or like the pressure of being one of the only people in the whole world that Tony could turn to when things got a little too hard to handle. Pepper and Uncle Rhodey had been the only two constants in his life, which Tony could go to for anything, even when his parents were… Even before the accident. That hadn’t changed in seventeen years, and Tony didn’t think it ever would. 

But then came that fateful day when the student committee was… well, for lack of a better term: Assembled. 

You see, being a genius in your own right came with perks: you could skip grades in school, you could patent your own inventions and be revered by millions, you could become the heir and soul proprietor to a fortune 500 company that reaches out globally and affects billions, and you could be one of the smartest and most world renowned teenagers on the planet earth.

There were also downsides to being a genius: you had to skip grades in order to be at a level that at least challenges you in school no matter what age you were, your inventions were so good that almost everyone wants a piece of them and then they bastardize your original intent, you become the heir and soul proprietor to a fortune 500 company only after you inherit it from your deceased parents, and you are one of the smartest and most world renowned, most sought after, most watched teenager on the planet earth.

Sometimes that silver lining is just pretty spray paint, and it’s often far too easy to scrap off. 

So, Tony Stark, seventeen year old, 337 patent creating, foremost expert in engineering and the advanced mechanics of robotics and Artificial Intelligence, CEO of StarkIndustries, and student at NYU, sometimes had trouble fitting in.

‘It’s hard not to stand out, when standing in is no fun’. Tony’s quote for life. At least the best quote that he could think of with the fewest profanities.

A few months before Tony had all of that on his plate, the Spring of his sophomore year at NYU, on that fateful day, when Assistant Dean Coulson pulled Tony from his advanced mechanics class because of some ‘interesting developments’, it was just too hard to pass up. As Tony gathered up his things and headed out the door of his mundane, lonely life; he never even glanced back at his classmates that he never really connected with anyway.

There really is only one way that Tony’s involvement in the school committee could have happened. It’s not a non-profit organization, so anyone with a brain would think that the only reason that they needed Tony was because of his money. To this day, Tony, who has never been self-conscious about a thing in his entire life, still kind of assumes that the only reason that the other members even want him there is because of his money. It doesn’t really bother him because he is under the firm belief that if they want his money than they were going to have to put up with him too; it’s kind of inevitable. 

The way that the initial meeting about being part of the school committee went, was just as Tony had expected it to be… pretty loud. 

“Barton if you don’t sit down and shut up, I will use that damn knife I know that you illegally have on your person, to do some real damage! NOW SIT THE HELL DOWN!”

This is what Tony walked in on when he followed Coulson through the door of Dean Fury’s office. His original intention was to walk right back out, but for some reason he found himself standing inside the office, several feet from the door, in a room full of college students, maybe four or five, with the Dean at his desk, and the Assistant Dean whispering something to Fury that Tony couldn’t hear. 

He figures his continued presence there had something to do with the dangerously creepy looking girl in the corner that was dressed in all black, and was casually flipping a pair of scissors in the air and then catching them without a care in the world. 

Besides Madam-Scissor-Hands the other ones left in the room were: a short-ish, spike headed looking, bird-like character, that was crouching- not sitting, crouching on one of the chairs that were set out in front of the Dean’s desk. Judging by the mischievous look and pure defiance on his face; this person had to be the ‘Barton’ that Fury was just yelling at. He looked down right irresponsible, and that kinda made Tony want to be his friend for life. In all honesty, ‘Barton’ looked like someone that Tony could get into some serious, not so legal, trouble with. 

To the left of ‘Barton’, sat a large, behemoth of a man; he couldn’t have been more than twenty-two, but that didn’t make him any less ginormous in Tony’s opinion. Oddly enough the man didn’t look like he belonged to his size. Despite being larger than life, the blond, did Tony mention that he was blond? 

Long, blond flowing hair… 

Despite being larger than life, the blond looked like a large dog; a great big puppy that apparently really liked pop-tarts, because he was stuffing one after the other, after the other, after the other into his mouth. He didn’t even look apologetic about it at all.

Tony was going to refer to him as ‘Clifford’ until he found out his real name. 

Next to ‘Clifford’ sat someone that Tony didn’t know, but wanted to… really, really, really wanted to. In all honesty Tony was pretty sure he had seen this guy walking around campus or something somewhere. Most of the time Tony tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when it came to social niceties with fellow students; he really kind of wanted to keep out of the limelight, but he was after all, a Stark. 

Starks were known for being in the public eye. If he could have this one sanctuary where not everyone knew that Tony ‘Genius-Playboy-Conqueror-of-Colleges-and-Engineering-Robotics -Everywhere’ Stark went to the same college as them, and therefore thought that it was totally appropriate to come up to him at the most inopportune moments and ask him to talk to his father about some such nonsense, or fund some God-forsaken project that will quote-unquote “Change the world”. If he could just have this one little place, then everything and all of the other shit would probably be worth it. 

So right, the guy who was standing next to ‘Clifford’ was also blond, and also huge, but not overbearingly so. In Tony’s mind’s eye, the blond, Angel-like, masterpiece that was standing in front of the Dean’s desk looking totally proper, and totally content to just stand in the background and let whatever was happening just happen; was just that. An angel… 

“Well that’s definitely going on the list of phrases I’m going avoid like the plague.” Tony mutters to himself. 

He feels a heated glare, like laser points on the side of his head. He glances over at… ‘Darla’. He’s calling the darkly dressed girl, with the scissors, and the crazy scary ‘kill-you-in-your-sleep’ glare, Darla. So, ‘Darla’ looks over at him like he’s kind of crazy, but it’s of no consequence when it comes to how blatantly obvious he was being as he stared at ‘The Angel’. 

‘Stop it.’ Tony berates himself.

Tony was momentarily stuck on the other blond man before he realized that there was another person in the room besides… everyone else that was in the room. 

Tony turned his head to look at the last person in the room and was pleasantly surprised to see that he knew him.

“Bruce!” Tony yelled without thinking... Nothing new there. Everyone else in the room turned to look at him, but it didn’t really matter. Tony shuffled over to Bruce’s side, but as soon as he settled next to the only person he actually knew in the room; he felt wholly uncomfortable because of the staring. 

“I know this one.” Tony says unhelpfully as he points at Bruce Banner. 

Besides Tony, it was fairly certain that Bruce Banner was probably the smartest person in the room. For years Banner was known as the youngest, smartest scientist from NYU that was the leading genius in the field of gamma ray technology. After some experiments that went wrong and an incident that caused some significant… er- personality changes in Bruce, he was still the foremost expert on gamma tech, but not everyone thought that he was ‘fit’ to remain a part of the general public. Tony had no such qualms about Bruce. In fact, when Tony started at NYU, Bruce was the only person that would approach Tony for advice, or help, or just to talk and hang out. In all honesty Bruce was probably the only friend that Tony had... that was his age, and on his intellectual level.

“Hey Tony, do you know what this is about? Because I don’t think… I mean, I can’t remember doing anything that I would need to see the Dean… I mean that he would need to see me- or us about.” Bruce was usually very quiet and very reserved, but in times of confusion, and emotional distress, he could actually get quite words-y.

“Dude, chill. I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe we’re getting a reward for not blowing anything up for the past like… month… week… couple days… What time is it?” Tony hears a distinctive snort coming from somewhere in the room. He glances around until he sees ‘Barton’ looking over at them with a smirk that was just downright dangerous. He looked as though he agreed with whatever Tony was saying, but it was impossible that he heard Tony from the other side of the room, not to mention the fact that Tony had been whispering at the time. 

Just before Tony could ask any questions about anything really; AD Coulson steps back from beside Dean Fury and the Dean addresses the students that are occupying his office. 

“Unless it’s about the explosive compounds in one of the science buildings that have mysteriously vanished Stark, I don’t want to hear whatever you think you want to say.” Despite only having one eye, and a very intimidating eye patch, due to some extenuating circumstances that Tony has not figured out yet, Fury could still be extremely scary and was known to make grown men wet their briefs. 

In this instance, he did at least make ‘Clifford’ put down the pop tarts with one mighty glare.

“Explosives? That sounds… not great. Whoever um, was in charge of those should probably have gotten better security…. Or you know… something.” Tony mumbles incoherently as he tries valiantly to avert his eyes away from the ferocious glare of the NYU Dean.

Barton, Darla, Clifford, and Bruce’s heads all swivel from the Dean to Tony in an attempt to see if there was an inside joke that no one else was getting. ‘The Angel’… Stop it. The other blond guy in the corner just rolls his eyes like he has better things to do. 

“I’m gonna stop this conversation now, before I feel the overwhelming sensation to strangle you come back.” Fury says turning to stand and walking out in front of his desk. 

Tony can see Barton’s shoulders shaking from the corner of his eye, but he refuses to give into the hilarity of the situation; a situation, which if anyone sane was examining, probably wouldn’t have been funny at all.

“I’ve gathered you all here today because I need help.” Fury starts as he stares at each student individually.

“Not gonna argue that.” Tony mumbles to himself. This time he knows that Barton heard him because the sonar-eared freak actually turns toward him with raised eyebrows. “How the Hell?” Tony whispers. He sees Barton smirk in his direction before he tunes back into whatever it is that Fury was saying. 

“… with the new student load coming in every day; NYU’s aptitude for granting student opinionated requests have gone significantly down in the past ten years. It hasn’t been a problem with how the results from our incoming student to graduating alumni ratio has been going, but lately- Romanav for the love of God put the scissors down- Lately we’ve had certain… figures in authority requesting- no, demanding that we put the best of the best in a position of authority over the student body.” Fury stops talking, but continues his ferocious stare at the six students.

No one says anything, but that doesn’t stop Fury from smirking in that scary as hell way that makes Tony shudder a little.

“You are those students. I want each and every one of you to get to know each other, get to know the student body, and get the Hell out of my office.” Fury moves back to his desk and sits down. 

He motions for Coulson to ‘shoo’ and the whole lot of them are ushered out of the Dean’s office, just like that. 

“Well, that was… super uninformative.” Tony says as the six of them are all standing outside of the Dean’s office with not one clue as to what just happened. Out of confusion and a morbid curiosity, Tony follows the other five students who walk after Coulson when he moves away from their position and in the direction of the professor lounges on campus. 

“You will all have access to the home base of operations that was previously used as a commons room for the professors in the Craig building. You will be required to cooperate with each other, and the student body, taking each of the rational requests into account and deliberating; leading to a concise and thoroughly thought out conclusion that will be brought to a panel of the university officials including myself and Dean Fury. You will also be required to organize events that must fit standards that the school has set.” Coulson doesn’t stop talking in his monotone voice as he leads the six students out of the hallway and into an entirely new building, Tony figures it has to be the Craig building because he didn’t see any students milling around. 

“You will not cause any trouble that raises my blood pressure, which in turn will raise the Dean’s blood pressure… or things could get very… unpleasant.” At this Coulson glanced back and met Tony’s eyes and then his glare shifted up a few inches and his eyes narrowed. Tony looks back, and not all that surprisingly, Barton is a few feet behind him… how did that happen? Wasn’t he… Anyway, Barton had an easy, innocent look on his face that Tony found almost impossible to believe. 

Coulson continues to talk after his warning glares are sent off in Tony and Barton’s directions. Tony would have been paying attention, but there was a guy behind him who had freakishly great hearing and an apparent niche for getting in trouble. 

He had to talk to this guy.

Tony’s walk slows a little so he’s standing right next to Barton. If he was ever this puzzled by a person’s mere existence… he had blocked the memory out.

“How… how are you even a thing?” Tony whispers to Barton, knowing full well that the man would be able to pick up his voice with that freaky hearing thing he does. 

Barton doesn’t say anything at first; he just glances over at Tony and smirks. He looks around and then looking like he had come to a decision he looks back over at Tony, meeting his eyes. “I’m hungry. I hope this doesn’t last much longer.”

Tony almost stops walking at the shire randomness that had just ensued, but instead he holds out his hand in a ‘shaking’ gesture. 

“Tony Stark”

Barton looks at Tony’s hand and continues on just smirking as he grips it and replies, “Clint Barton, nice to know ya.”

“You have freakishly good hearing, man. I can’t believe someone hasn’t said anything about you.” Tony doesn’t seem to have much for shame when he’s pointing out things that others might not want to hear about themselves. 

“Thanks… I think.” Clint says. “I guess it’s just a thing I do. My friends call me Hawkeye because… well, you know.” As they’re walking Tony notices that Clint doesn’t take his eyes away from the conversation; he isn’t worried about running into someone else that happens to be walking toward him; he doesn’t seem to care when things are in his way, he just effortlessly steps over them, or around them. 

He was a weird one. 

“Hawk’s are known for their hearing?” Tony curiously asks.

“No.” Clint says as he raises an eyebrow in amusement.

He was definitely a weird one.

Tony’s about to say something else, when he feels a nudge on his shoulder from his right side; It’s the large, dog like creature that momentarily scares the shit out of Tony, but has him settled with one look into his large, round eyes.

“Did the Hawk-man utter something regarding sustenance? For, I am on the verge of my very demise from lack of a beverage.” Clifford says in the deepest and loudest-trying-to-be-quiet-tone on the planet earth. Some of the others even glance back at them when he asks his question.

It takes Tony a moment to regain brain function from that sentence. He raises an eyebrow and then glances over at Clint who has the same ‘what the hell’ look he supposed that he had on his face. 

“You’re- you’re not from around here, are you big guy?” Tony says while straining his neck to look at this guy in the eyes instead of in the… mid-chest. 

The giant man laughs in a hearty deep tone and then replies, “You are correct young one. I am Thor Odinson and I hail from the cold Norwegian tundra.” 

“Okay, so a hawk with no affiliation for the actual bird, and a giant from the Norwegian tundra… yeah, I can handle this.” Tony says in an optimistic tone. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he had seen all of these people loitering in Fury’s office like soldier’s awaiting orders from their commander, but he definitely didn’t think that it would be as fun as it was turning out to be.

“Hey, some of us are actually trying to listen to the Assistant Dean, try to be a little less obnoxious before I have to do something a lot less lady-like.” Tony hears from somewhere off to his right.

Just beyond Thor the girl that Tony had dubbed ‘Darla’ was walking with a strict manner, not as uptight as she had looked in the Dean’s office, and she was lacking the scissors, but Tony still found her very, very scary. 

“Chill ‘Tash, we were just getting to know each other. It’s not every day that we get accosted into the warden’s- I mean Dean’s office, and then kicked out with absolutely no clue as to what the Hell it was he talking about anyway.” Clint says smirking in ‘Tash’s direction. It seemed to Tony, by the way that the girl- woman, the way that the woman was glaring at Clint, that they had some kind of history that Tony needed to figure out as soon as possible. 

“I second that. Cue ball is usually all kinds of cryptic, but nothing he said suggested that he was in his right mind and anything that AD Coulson is saying can’t possibly be as interesting as you.” Tony wiggles his eyebrows suggestively causing Clint and Thor to burst out laughing. ‘Tash, Natasha, or if you’re feeling safe about yourself: Black Widow as Tony later came to find out, was a Russian exchange student who spoke perfect English, and Russian obviously, and French, Spanish, and Latin apparently, Oh and she could kill a person fifteen different ways with a napkin; stared at Tony with a mixture of repulsion, disbelief, and fondness maybe? Clint knew her from weapons training, which he casually mentioned after pulling Tony out of Natasha’s direct line of sight, and then immediately didn’t say another word about the subject.

“Tony, what have I told you about nicknames? They hurt.” Bruce whispers back from his position closer to the front of the group. Tony had the sudden feeling of shame, not wanting to upset the only person on campus who actually called him ‘friend’, but then suddenly Bruce turns his head so that Tony could see half of his face, and there is a casual, but rare, smirk gracing the gamma ray genius’ features. “Besides, I thought I was the only one you had a nickname for. I don’t let just anyone call me the Hulk when I get… emotional, now do I?”

This causes everyone in the general vicinity to look between the two of the resident genius’ in confusing. All they get is a soft smile from Bruce and a cocky one from Tony. 

‘Yeah, okay this might work: Hawk-boy, The Tundra King, Madam Dark-side, and the Angry Green Biologist. I think I can actually handle this.’ Tony thinks to himself as him and the rest of the group come to a stop outside of a room that has the label: “The Center” in faded letters on the window.

“… And this will be the HQ for everything you might need in the new positions that you hold. If there is anything that you ‘think’ that you need, either put in a formal request or make it yourself. From now on when you are on campus you are either in classes, in council meetings, dealing with public relations, or dealing with the student body as a whole. This is something you need to understand. If you didn’t have a job, this is it. This will determine whether or not you go on with a future at this University. You do have the option of not participating, but as the best of our students at what you all do; it’s only logical that you will excel at this and bring this campus into some sort of order.” At this Coulson finally stops talking and holds his gaze on Tony for a few seconds longer than everyone else as his eyes sweep the newly formed council members. 

“Any questions?”

All of the sudden everyone starts talking at once; even the usually calm and quiet Bruce Banner has some concerns about the new arrangements. 

“That was more rhetorical than anything else. In the room… now.” Coulson’s tone suggests that no one should argue with what he was suggesting that they should do.

As the six students start to shuffle into the room under confusion and extreme duress, Coulson stops two of them before they all walk in. 

“Stark. Rogers. We need to have words.”

Tony and ‘Rogers’... 

‘His name is something Rogers… I could be Mr. Something Rogers-Stark, or Mr. Something Rogers. I’m not gonna be picky about this.’ Tony thinks sporadically as he follows Coulson and Rogers away from the door that the rest of the group went into, and down the hall a bit.

“Okay, the real reason for the rest of the team varies with each of them. We recruited you two for leadership positions over the rest because of various… issues that have popped up throughout their involvements in certain incidents that have happened on campus.” Coulson doesn’t do anything without subtly, so when he starts describing the reason for the new council members; it’s like pulling teeth from a stubborn crocodile.

“I knew there was a catch. What did these guys do? Stage a strongly worded protest against people who hate people who like people?” Tony doesn’t like the glare that Rogers turns his way, it’s not as though Tony’s doing something weird like taking this seriously. He had met these people, talked to these people; they were no worse than he was. 

“Stark.” Coulson says his name with tons of meaning. Maybe too much meaning when it came down to it. “The reasons that the rest of the team was assembled cannot be disclosed by anyone but themselves. If they choose not to tell you, then that’s what they choose. I suggest the two of you try and get more in tune with them. You will both be responsible for the outcome of these meetings, and the wellbeing of this group as a whole. Am I understood?”

Despite wanting to be a smart ass with just about everything; Tony could only nod alongside Rogers as Coulson gives them the valuable information that they’ll need. 

“So who’s head banana?” Tony asks once Coulson has been satisfied with their agreement. 

“Not that we don’t believe that you’re ready for the responsibility Stark, but Steve has the best leadership, and not ‘blowing shit up on a regular basis’ record.” Coulson turns toward Steve (‘I can’t believe his name is Steve! Oh my God, I’ll be Mr. Steven Rogers-Stark’)

“What do say Captain? You’ll lead the group in the off season, and if football is an option, Stark will take the reins for council approved events.”

Tony has just now realized that Steve hadn’t said anything… like at all. Since the start of this whole thing he hasn’t uttered a word. Tony was starting to wonder if it was some kind of sexy silent and mysterious thing or if-

“Are you sure you want a child to lead up these people if I’m not around, I mean, this isn’t his science play things, these are real people with actual problems that he’ll have to deal with. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid.”

… Or, he could just be a DICK and that was why he didn’t speak, because of his massive ASSHOLE attitude that came out a little harsh with DOUCHEBAG splattered all over it!

“Excuse me-” Tony starts turning toward the massive Douche who shifted to look at Coulson more intently and totally ignored Tony.

“Stark.” Coulson says again.

“Oh I’m sorry, was I not supposed to say anything after being addressed like a five year old? Was I just supposed to be quiet after that?” Tony bites as he glares hard at Captain Rogers. Like this guy has sunshine come out of his- wait… Captain Rogers?

“You’re… you’re Steve Rogers? Captain of the NYU football league, Steve Rogers? Howard Stark’s pet project, Steve Rogers? Is that who you are?” Tony has no words to express his extreme dislike for the football team. Ever since he was a little kid, his father had been very invested in everything but Tony. Electronics, Computers, Machines, Atoms, Business, Hell even the football team where he went to school, but not Tony. There were so many things that Tony could say about his dad, so much bullshit that he could call him on, and most of it would lead back to his obsession with having the perfect specimen to play around with, and who better than the Perfect Captain Rogers of the U.S.S. ‘He-Couldn’t-Give-A-Shit’ sports team that played at his college. He could say so much that would bring Captain-All-American, Mr. Stars and Stripes, down to a level of- no… no, that’s not what this is about. 

So Tony is glaring with blatant dislike for the DICK that’s standing next to him. The same DICK that was looking at Tony with an almost amused visage; like everything that Tony was saying was somehow childish and funny to him. 

“I’ve heard a lot about you Tony.” Steve says in a smug tone as he glares back at the young genius with the same ferocity.

Coulson looks between the two of them and then says, “And this was the other reason for your positions. We’ve been talking to some people and they seem to think that the two of you getting along would be best for everyone in the future of this school.” The two college students continue to glare at each other seemingly not paying the AD any attention at all. “Will this be an irreconcilable issue? Do not tell me no.” Coulson continues as he brings the two student’s attention back to him. 

One last feral look and the two students break their glare and look back at the AD. 

“I’m fine with it, if Mr. All American can part with his fan base long enough to participate.” Tony mutters out while looking everywhere but at Steve ‘nobody-can-do-it-like-I-can’ Rogers.

“I’m on board Sir, as long as Iron-boy here can part with his robo-toys long enough to be of any use.” Steve says standing up straight ‘like the little soldier boy he is.’ Tony thinks as he glares back at Steve briefly.

“I’m going to pretend that everything here is copacetic and not go into this any further than I have to.” Coulson looks back between the two of them and then says in tone that states finality, 

“Don’t screw this up.” Coulson takes his leave after that, expecting that the two will work it out, or die trying. 

“Don’t think this is over Spangly.” Tony says feeling very agitated about the new situation he finds himself in.

Steve looks over at Tony and then moves a little closer to him, leaning so he’s just next to him as he walks past. He smirks, in an admittedly dangerous way, and then says, “Back at you tin can.”

Steve walks past Tony and back into the room that the rest of the team had been loitering in for the last few minutes. 

Tony is momentarily stunned again for all of the same, and none of the same reasons that he was stunned by Steve before. Deciding that he was getting nowhere standing out in the hallway; Tony turns toward the door and walks in moments after his newest problem: Captain Steven Rogers. 

He is immediately addressed by Clint who comes out of basically nowhere and starts to explain the long history of the Hawk and why someone with absolutely no background in Ornithology should know about it.

His gaze wanders but not around the room, that he’s sure that he’s going to make a ton of upgrades to anyway, but his gaze drifts around at the other people in the room. He’ll deny it if you ask him, but out of habit, Tony starts to make a list:

Clint Barton- Nickname: Hawkeye  
Special Skill: Freaky Hearing thing and weapons training  
Problem to address: Unknown  
Hostility: Low

Natasha Romanov- Nickname: Black Widow  
Special Skill: Can kill you if need be, weapon’s training, and language training  
Problem to address: Unknown  
Hostility: I’m not gonna push it

Bruce Banner- Nickname: Hulk  
Special Skill: Genius in Biological Studies including Gamma Rays and Medicine  
Problem to address: Unknown  
Hostility: Problematic at times

Thor Odinson- Nickname: Thor  
Special Skill: Can eat a million pop tarts in one sitting and Unknown  
Problem to address: Unknown  
Hostility: Non-existent

And last but not least;

Steve Rogers- Nickname: Captain  
Special Skills: Unknown  
Problem to address: Unknown  
Hostility: Extreme

As Tony goes over the last person on his list, he can’t help but let his eyes wander over to the Captain. He’s not surprised to see that he was being watched as well. Steve was at one end of the room next to Natasha who looked like she was talking about something unimportant to the point that she didn’t care if Steve was listening or not. 

As Tony met Steve’s eyes from across the room he couldn’t decipher what Rogers was thinking about. Steve had that same amused look on his face that he did earlier when they were talking in the hall with Coulson. It kind of made Tony hot under the collar, but not in the way he was expecting. He didn’t know what to think of the Star Spangled Jerk that won’t stop staring at him.

And that’s how it all started. 

With a list of his new council members and one thought in the back of his mind:

‘I can make this work. I have to.’

-Fini-


End file.
